Summer is almost over and the big paint/clear out job is done. Now it’s time to move into the next phase. It’s funny how we mark time. The first bulbs push up through the earth, the first red robin darts about, and we are sure that spring is in the air. Fall leaves tumble to the ground as a very clear signal autumn is here at last.

Some mourn summer’s end but I look forward to it eagerly. Autumn is marked by a trip to Starbucks and it’s addictive Pumpkin Spice Latte! Half the syrup please! It’s warm, spicy, just the sort of thing you want on cold crisp days. Well…one can only dream…

The autumns of my childhood flashed with brilliantly coloured leaves. Now living in the Emerald City, the trees here are different, they’re a brooding green. Emily Carr when she first came to the Northwest, from England, wrote the woods were primordial and she’s spot on. Indeed there is something very menacing about the woods here. It is dark. You walk in the woods with the sound of water dripping off leaves and it’s not raining. But it is. The air is heavier than England and New England. One can almost believe that some strange and dangerous creature will come out from under the thick rustling ferns.

Emily Carr (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

When I lived in Canada the fall colours were unbelievable! The colours took your breath away. The air was crisp and you knew without any doubt that ice skates and snowmen would be out and about. Fall in England, and it depends on which part, I am in the Southeast, it’s not such a dramatic event. The temperature drops, the winds pick up, we know the night will be drawing in to early evenings around the telly and endless cups of warm tea, before the damp cold of winter sets in. However, the weather has been playing games with everyone. The autumns of my childhood, are now mild and wet, rather than crisp and colourful. Winter is mostly grey and wet. Has your weather changed? Or is it our memory playing games with us and this is what we really wish our memories had been? Scientists claim that we rarely remember things as they actually happened. Well, then…I like my memories just as they are, don’t tamper with the please!

Photo Credit. Wiki Commons

We had a massive clear out this summer. I went through every drawer, every closet, anything that wasn’t tied down got a thorough dusting and clear out. Even my cd’s got sorted including a confused box, for those orphan cds that just don’t fit into any category. ( Don’t tell Ted, but even his half chewed bones and toys got a toss out! )My work area is cleared to only current projects. I only really understood later on in life that I am easily distracted and have to focus on one project at a time, even though my brain wants to work on a hundred!

Ted of course was put out about all of this. He was so happy when his dog basket under my desk was recently discovered and returned to its proper place. He danced around, got in it three times, making sure I was washed with guilt! He knew his stuff had been tampered with but couldn’t quite put a paw on it!

The house is painted, the desk is ready, and I am so looking forward to a long productive work period. Summers….for me are a time to let my brain take a holiday and do nothing. There is something about rain outside the window, coming in from a walk in the cold, that makes me want to have a mug of tea and lose myself in writing and reading.

I missed everyone on my digital break. Even though there are cartoons out there, ( classic one— funeral– only two people show up -comment- but I thought she had over a thousand friends on Facebook!) I missed my connections.

Welcome back I say to all. Ted approves, finally I can pay him some attention and paint colours and sorting are a thing of the past! Well for a few days anyhow.

I will be heading to Alaska, glaciers, and bear, oh my! I hope to get some photographs to share with everyone. This September will be a month of family visiting. I’m looking forward to it and seeing the Emerald City with them. It’s funny how you can walk by things and just take them for granted, but when visitors come, suddenly everything is new, bright and shiny. A double treat..time with good friends and a visit without leaving home!

So what is special about fall for you? Do you call it Autumn or Fall?

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About susan sheldon

I am an explorer. It's taken me awhile to realise this. But I love capturing bits of our wonderful world with my camera, travelling through time and history, always returning to write, or paint what I've discovered. I use my Leica and my iPhone to capture images, and with those images I try to hold on to a feeling, a moment in our busy lives. Sometimes those moments bring me into the past, others into the studio to paint, or back to the old typewriter to try to use words to capture what the camera has done for me already. One of my goals in my blog is to have a space to take a breath away from our frantic world. I hope you enjoy your time here. It’s such a privilege to have readers.

4 Responses to Blog Break ends just as Pumpkin Spice arrives!

I agree with you, i’ll keep my memories as they are, as they playout much more cinamatically appealing in my brain than they probably did in reality. None the less, i too tend to take the summer to enjoy nature, i found nature to be just as primordial as you and though i spend most of my time either behind a desk or in an semi-urban area, i like to take that time every so often to just smell the flowers as it were.